


Moving on

by Paraphilic_Nerd



Category: Voltron Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, BOM Keith, Bittersweet Ending, Corrupted Lotor, F/F, Flashbacks, Funeral, Future, Goodbye Kisses, Kuron makes an appearance, Lotor is a side character, M/M, People get hurt physically, after the war, broganes, in canon, older paladins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 01:43:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14486070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paraphilic_Nerd/pseuds/Paraphilic_Nerd
Summary: After the fight with the galra, the paladins go home and split up from one another. A year later they're all meeting up all while remembering the last day of the war.





	Moving on

_It all felt like so long ago. We were just kids at the time, not knowing what we were doing. Not knowing the depths of our situation till later in this twisted game. Now all we are are fragments scattered about. Trying to find pieces that were stolen from us from long ago._

It was a Thursday afternoon, Hunk was sitting at the kitchen table sorting out the normal paperwork he had. It’d been a long day for him to say the least. He didn’t know whether or not he should be anxious about the next day or if he should have been anxious about the paperwork that was in front of him. He sighed heavily and placed his pen down, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he leaned back in his seat. He heard the door open and he smiled softly, knowing exactly who it was.

Matt walked through the door as he did, he placed the keys into the bowl and his bag by the side of the door. He had his hair up into a ponytail as strands went down the side of his face which had used to be tied back with the rest of his hair, he had on his long white lab coat that he was ever so proud of, and his normal clothing. He took off his shoes before going over to Hunk and wrapping his arms around his neck from behind. “Hey there handsome.” he said as he placed his head onto the top of Hunk’s.

Hunk grinned happily as his wonderful boyfriend flirted with him, he then laughed quietly as he looked up at him to kiss his chin before looking back down. “Hm, hey there Matty. How was work?”

Matt went and sat down next to Hunk, dragging his arms off of him longingly as if he’d miss the touch or it’d be the last time they’d touch again and he wanted to prolong it. He went and began to take off his lab coat as he started talking about his day. “It was good, got to talk to Pidge on the phone. She sounds so much...older now. It’s kind of insane, it feels like it was just yesterday that we were on the roof talking about space, messaging dad via code. Or even her finding me after the Kerberos mission.” He said with his voice sounding fond of the old memories.

“Yeah, I know what you mean by that…. How’s she been? I haven’t talked to her for a month or two….” his words drifted as he thought about it. Had it really been that long since they’d spoken to one another?

“She’s good! Great even….” He sighed softly as his gaze strayed off to the side. His eyes began to become heavy with the realization of how much he was missing out on his baby sister’s life.

Hunk glanced over at Matt’s face, seeing the weary expression he had formed. He reached over to his hand, holding it tightly. Matt looked over at Hunk and smiled kindly at him. The silence in the room telling all that it needed to. A few moments later Matt finally spoke again,

“So, how was your day?” He asked sincerely, though half of it was just to take something off of both their minds.

Hunk gladly took the bait, wanting to do the same. He chuckled and thought about it for a moment in an animated way, smirking and looking up at the ceiling. “Umm, wellll~” He started off before his eyes moved back onto his excited boyfriend. “Nothing much to be honest. Besides the fact that I totally got the building for my restaurant and will most likely be quitting my horrible job in a few months to pay attention solely on my dream.” he said trying to act calm but really he was completely giddy inside.

“Hunk! Are you kidding me!?”

“Nope~!”

“That’s amazing.” he said as he went up and hugged him. Jumping up onto him as he wrapped his arms around his neck. “I’m so proud of you….”

“Thanks honey….” he chuckled as he used his favorite pet name on him. He hugged him back tightly as he sighed. He wished that Lance could have seen him get the restaurant. He would have been ecstatic about the whole entire thing. Most likely being the drama queen he was. Maybe he’d tell him tomorrow, along with everyone else. He went and parted from Matt, seeing his great big grin on his face that just screamed how happy he was for him.

“It’s gonna be amazing, I bet once it opens everyone will be lining up to eat your incredibly food.” He smirked.

Hunk laughed at the ridicoulsness of his statement. He shook his head slightly, “That takes ages to build up that kind of statis man.”

“You could definitely do it before you hit ages! What you do, is the closest thing to magic. I mean, who could make food goo any better than it already was? No that I know besides you.” Matt laughed as Hunk did.

Once they finally settled down, this was when Hunk decided to carry on. “Sure….which reminds me -”

Matt’s grin turned instantly into a furrowed brows and a neutral expression. “Yeah?”

“Tomorrow.”

Matt sighed as he said that. He had almost completely forgotten about the next day in all honesty. He was more...trying to push it back into the far reaches of his mind. “Oh….right…”

Hunk went and began to run his hands along his neck, rubbing at it slightly as he began to talk. “I mean, I know I’m going. You don’t have to but I’d like for you to go. It’d be really nice and-”

“Hunk.” Matt said before Hunk could continue on with his quick ramble.

“Huh? Um sorry. Yeah?”

“It’ll be fine. I know you’re nervous about tomorrow. But it’ll be fine. I already agreed to going, we are friends and I miss them….it’ll be good to see them.”

“Right but...everything’s so different now….We’re not the same people that we used to be.”

“Everything was going to change anyways. That’s kind of how life goes.”

“That’s not what I meant Matt.”

Matt huffed out a short breath and shook his head slightly as he smiled faintly at Hunk. “I know, but I’m just saying. Everything changes and we have to deal with those changes. What matters is staying by their side. From everything you’ve all gone through, you should know how hard it is.”

“God, have you always been this intelligent? I mean, science is one thing. But this?” Hunk teased Matt slightly. Which received a roll of the eyes but a small smile.

“Hm, of course I have.” Matt said as he leaned over and kissed Hunk on the lips. Hunk closed his eyes as he returned the kiss.

The conversation made him less anxious to say the least but he continued to worry about tomorrow and what it would bring.

_It all came crashing down so quickly. The team didn’t know how it happened. One moment they were sided with Lotor, bringing a new age of peace. Then the next their screens lit up with distress beacons. Lotor had wiped most of them out. The rebel forces, the blade of marmora, all of their alliances they had built up over the years. All gone before their eyes._

_They were desperate. This was the last thing they could do….one final battle to end this god forsaken war. The last of their coalition came to the castle, forming a plan together._

_When they all showed up….it was devastating, their thousands..only turned into a hundreds. They all looked mortified and broken. Allura, Shiro, and Kolivan were leading the conversation as they all listened and put their own advice in._

_“What can we do exactly?” Hunk asked, the doubt in his voice as he did. It was impossible in his mind to come back from this sort of defeat._

_“Voltron could go in and slash down the rest of the ships. Going in guns blazin.” Keith suggested. He honestly had no idea what to do, but anything was better than nothing._

_Lance narrowed his eyes at Keith as he said that, “They have hundreds of ships, Keith. We need to be sneaky. We need a /better/ plan that that.” He had become a bit of a strategist on the team to say the least. But, it was hard to imagine anything without any horrible consequences and a huge body count._

_“Well then, what do you suggest?” Keith raised a brow as he crossed his arms. Leaning back on the wall._

_“I suggest-....anything but that…” He sighed, worn out already with the conversation. “I don’t know...our resources are small, we don’t have many people, everything seems too risky.” He said irritated with the situation they were stuck in._

_“Let’s not talk about what we **can’t** do and start thinking of what we **can** do. We still have people, we have equipment, we can do this.” Allura said, trying not to let her doubt get to her in this time of need. But even they could hear the waver in her voice. _

_“We know where the main ship will be….maybe we could hack into it?” Pidge suggested._

_Kolivan looked over at Pidge and raised his nonexistent brow. “Hack into it and do what exactly? What would that do to help us?”_

_“No, no, they’re onto something actually.” Matt smirked. “Maybe the Rebels could distract the ship and Pidge could hack into the ship and cut off all communications to the other fleets. Since the main ship acts as a command unit. Without that they would be lost on what to do.”_

_“Not to mention the galra usually team up and help one another while they fight.” Keith added in, which only strengthened Matt’s point._

_“Exactly!”_

_Hunk bit his bottom lip, “What about all the prisoners though?” His voice conveyed his concern. “I mean, they’re still on the ships. Plus, what else will we do afterwards when we cut off the communications. Great, we cut off their communications! Now what? We just hope they surrender?”_

_“Victory or death….” Keith murmured._

_“He has a point….maybe we could-”_

_“Maybe we could set a bomb on the main ship with Lotor in it. That’s basically where they have all their main supplies for quientences at, where they’re mainly set up, etc. It’d be taking down a huge part of them, and along with Lotor? We'd be killing two birds with one stone.” Lance said as he looked down onto the ground. This needed to be stopped and this seemed like this was the only way to do so. They’d be killing so many people….but the battle needed to end somehow. Everyone in the room looked over at Lance. The disturbed presence heavy in the room. They didn’t know what to say to such an appalling idea. But….he had a point._

_“I don’t know, it seems too risky in my opinion.” Shiro said. “ I think we should come up with something else that doesn’t involve blowing up an entire fleet.”_

_“We need to give it our all, Shiro. This is the last thing we can do to fight back. Lotor took over half of the rebellion.” Lance said, a bit astonished that Shiro kept on arguing about this. Like he was on Lotor’s side._

_“The blue paladin is right. The rebel force shall distract the fleets, the green paladin will cut off all communications from the inside while the rest of the blade will help rescue any prisoners that are still on the ship, then we can plant the bomb onto the ship and set a timer for it.” Kolivan stated bluntly. “We can figure out the technicalities later.”_

_Allura nodded. “Yes, let’s begin commencing the plan.”_

Loud footsteps of heels clacking on wooden floors could be heard from outside of Pidge’s lavatory. However Pidge was too busy working on a new machine to hear the sound. Allura soon walked in with her short wavy hair, long black skinny jeggings with rips in the knees, white buttoned up top with a light blue jean jacket over it, and her black stiletto heels. She walked over to Pidge and kissed her neck sweetly since she missed them….along with trying to get her attention since she knew that she wouldn’t be able to normally. Pidge smiled while she was kissed on the neck, humming softly from the sensation. She glanced over at her girlfriend who was now looking around at the mess she had made of her lab again.

“Are you never going to clean up?” she raised a brow and smiled softly at her as she sat down next to her. Rolling over to where she was sitting at.

Pidge smirked and rolled her eyes as her eyes drifted back to her computer. “Of course not. Everything is where I need it to be. I know exactly where everything is at. It’s an organized mess and that is how I like it. It’s also color coded.”

“Okay, but you do know it’s a health risk.” she teased.

“I’ll be fine. So, how did the meeting go miss queen of the universe?” Pidge smirked as she asked the question.

Allura rolled her eyes playfully, “I’m not the queen of the universe. I just represent the rebellion and a new age. I don’t exactly have a planet to run anymore.”

“Hm, yes, a rebellion that involved the whole universe practically. Also, i’m just joking, but you know you’ll always be my queen.”

“Someone’s softened up. Usually you don’t like showing any sort of affection.” Allura leaned back into her seat as she sat up straight, beginning to take off her heels.

“You seemed to like more affection so I thought I would...try it I guess. I mean you seemed to have liked it when those males kissed your hand at the meeting and showed you all of that attention.”

“Are you jealous?” Allura raised a brow.

“No of course not. I just want to make sure I have this right. This is my first relationship, I’m not used to be so lovey dovey towards people unless it’s just the basics. I want sure you’re happy.”

Allura smiled softly towards Pidge, she never really got to see this side of her so it was nice to see it once in a while. “I’m happy, I promise.”

Pidge looked over to her side and nodded, “I’m glad. I hope this works out. Though, of course statistically wise most relationships that begin usually end right around the six month mark because people usually lose their ‘spark’ around that time. Along with that the first relationship of a person usually never lasts and if they do there is usually a few break ups and get back together before officially becoming a stable couple and lasting for years to even marriage. I mean-”

Allura laughed softly as she shook her head at Pidge’s ridiculous rambling. “Pidge. Sweetheart?” Pidge stopped and glanced over at Allura. “Let’s focus on the present...Alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, that sounds good to me…” She said happily before turning her chair back over to her work.

“Good. Now, I actually have something for you. A gift of sorts.” Which when she said that made Pidge instantly spin back towards Allura excitedly. “Though, of course I don’t have to if you don’t -”

“Wait what!? No! I want it!”

“Alright, if you say so. But you might not like it.” Allura smirked as she stood up.

Pidge placed her elbow onto the table and leaned on it as she adjusted her glasses. “I honestly doubt that.” Allura just walked out and Pidge noticed her shoes off. Sighing, “Also, put your shoes on this a lavatory not a living room!” She shook her head and murmured softly to herself with a small grin on her face, “She’s going to be the death of me I swear.”

Soon Allura walked back in, holding /something/ behind her back. Pidge raises a brow curiously when she did and she leaned over to the side a bit more to see what was behind her back. In response Allura turned her body to the same side so she wouldn’t be able to see it. “Close your eyes first.”

“.....Should I trust you?”

“I am your Queen aren’t I?”

“There’s something called rebellion, you should be very well accustomed to it.”

“Just close your eyes already.”

“Yes, yes, whatever you want.” Pidge went and slowly closed her eyes. As she did she could hear little beeps and the sound of an engine running. She definitely made her more eager to find out what it was. Her mind began to run a mile a minute trying to figure out what it was. Till finally she heard those sweet words.

“You may open your eyes.”

Pidge opened her eyes, as she did they widened in surprise as her mouth dropped slightly. “Oh my god….are you serious…?” She got up and slowly walked over to the drone.

It was an identical version of Rover who was hovering around. Pidge went and grabbed the version and looked at all of its hardware and software, just to see if it was all the same. It was a bit hard to remember since it was so long ago. However, seeing this version triggered a few of her memories and...it all seemed to be indistinguishable from one another.

“I thought all of these were destroyed when we took down the Galra empire?” She asked quietly. “Plus they barely used these things, this was old tech compared to what they had.”

“Well, that is correct but we’re still going through most of their equipment and technology. And they just so happened to have a whole warehouse full of these. Now, most of them will be used to help out with other planets, for example security. But they were willing to give me a few of these and when I was being asked this I thought of you…” she smiled sweetly at Pidge.

Pidge looked at Rover 2.0 and back at Allura. “Allura….Thank you!” she said jumping up and hugging her amazing girlfriend, she wrapped her arms around her waist as she placed her head on her shoulder. She has grown from the past few years to say the least and changed appearance.

Allura laughed softly and hugged her back. She ran her fingers through her shorter hair that she had while the other arm was wrapped around her waist. “Of course my love.” She whispered and closed her eyes. Loving the warmth of her and the sweet gesture.

Pidge then started to question it all, she arched her back so she could look at Allura. Her eyes narrowing, “What do you want?”

“Huh?”

“What do you want? You usually want /something/ in trade of these things.”

“....”

“A-Ha! I knew it!” she backed away and pointed her finger at her. “I knew it! If it’s to go dress up all fancy like and go to those ballroom dances and show off. I’m not doing that again unless I wear my converse, those heels gave me blisters and I could barely walk! I mean seriously, those things are not functional. They weren’t even meant to make you look good! You know, heels were actually made for butchers-”

“It’s not that Pidge.”

Pidge sighed in relief as she said that. “Oh thank god. I think I would have rather watch paint dry. So….what is it? My birthday has already past and you didn’t forget to get me a gift on it. And christmas isn’t for another few months…..Is this a weird Altean tradition? -...wait are you breaking up with me and in Altea a way of breaking up is by giving the person a gift?”

Allura huffed out a frustrated sigh and her ears went down as she shook her head slightly. “No! Pidge, of course not.” She said as she took her hands into hers. “I absolutely love you. I do not want to break up. You’re not doing anything wrong. I’m completely and utterly happy. However, I do want something.” She said softly.

Pidge looked up at her. “Of course, what is it?”

“I want you to go tomorrow.”

Pidge furrowed her eyebrows, confused as to what she meant by that. She thought back about what ‘tomorrow’ could mean. When she did, she remembered what she was talking about. Her expression saddened and the word seemingly fell from her lips. “Oh….” She sighed and sat down into her seat.

“Love?” She said quietly and walked over to her, sitting back into her seat.

“I should have known this was a trick.” she murmured and shut off the Rover 2.0. She began to work on her coding. Trying to distract herself from the current situation.

“Pidge?”

Maybe she should implement some voice and face recognition into the coding for the machine. That’s always a good idea. Though she’d need to have a run down.

“Pidge.”

Maybe she could replicate some of the tech from Rover, It wouldn’t be too hard to do that.

“Katie!”

Pidge jumped slightly and sighed. “No….I can’t…”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I can’t….I can’t meet them again….not like this. It’s been a year, we haven’t seen them for an entire year Allura. I talked to my brother today, he’s moved on seemingly from the entire thing. Hunk and I barely talk anymore. Keith and Shiro? God, who in god’s name know what they’re doing. Then Lance? Oh god…. Allura… I-I can’t. Not like this….it’s just too hard…” She said as she turned her body towards her. Her eyes glossy and her voice cracking with desperation.

Allura sighed as she nodded. She went and held her hand again, running her thumb over her knuckles. “Katie... I know it’s hard and...you don’t have to come but it’d make me feel better if you did. I’m sure everyone misses you just as much as you miss them. Plus….he was your friend too…this is the least we can do….”

Pidge sighed as she rubbed her face. She took a second just to calm herself down before she nodded slowly. “Of course, anything for you my queen.”

Allura smiled happily and kissed her lips before stopping and placing her forehead onto Pidge’s. “And if you can’t handle it….we’ll leave. Okay?”

Pidge nodded. “Alright….thank you for understanding.”

“Of course Pidge, I’ll always try my best to understand.”

“Great. Anyways, I should get back to work. I’m almost done, I just am programming it and I can send this baby out there.” She said turning away from Allura.

Allura smiled as she leaned back into her seat, putting her heels back on as she scooted over to her and peered over at her computer. “Really? What are you doing?”

“Oh! It’s actually really interesting I got the idea when I was with the garrison.-”

_The tension was high in the air as Pidge ran down the never ending hallways. The blasts from over the coms, the screams, the cracking sounds. They’d done it all before, but this was different, this was their last chance to stop everything. They had worked so hard just to have everything crumble beneath them. At least their plan had went somewhat smoothly._

_The rebel force had distracted the main fleet and were now fighting with the fighter pilots, along with Hunk. Since it would have been bad not to have at least some backup with them. They wouldn’t be able to handle it all alone. However it gave The BOM and the rest of the team the opportunity to infiltrate the central command. Allura, Lance, and Shiro were backing Pidge up by causing distractions and drawing bots and foot soldiers away from her and the prisoners. She had already scanned for the location of them and given that same information to The Blade. Now she needed to wait for one of the members to get to the hardware so she could hack into the system easier._

_Though, all she could really think of right now was her worry about her brother. She of course knew he could handle himself. But he was fighting off hundreds of people with only a few ships backing up and one lion. This entire thing was risky, all their missions were, but this was more so. The damage that had been dealt to them could never be replaced and could never be built back up again._

_“ Pidge.” _

_Pidge was shaken out of her thoughts when she heard the familiar voice of Keith’s. She went and turned on her microphone. “Yeah? Did you do it?”_

_“ Yep, the hardware is in. Good luck. I’m going to help out with the prisoners now.” _

_“Got it. Hacking into it now. Good luck to you too. Try not to die.” She went and muted her mic once again and sat down in a corner between two small walls so she wouldn’t be too disturbed. Taking out her small screen, she began the process of hacking into the communicators._

_Before she could finish, she heard the awful blood curdling screams. They were Allura’s._

_Pidge’s heart sank as she heard them, her face paling as a million thoughts ran by in her mind that was already so loud. On the other side of the com’s she heard Lance saying that he’d be there to help her, however she didn’t care. She got out of her spot and began to run towards where Allura was at. Hoping to a God that she didn’t believe in that she was alright. She finished downloading the virus into the communicators and then ran full speed._

_“The communicators are shut off. I’ll place the bomb on the deck once I help out Allura.” Pidge stated, not listening to anyone else._

_Once she finally got the location where Allura was at, her eyes widened at the scene. Shock and terror resonated throughout her body as she saw it. She stumbled back a few steps and covered her mouth as her body shook._

_One of her most trusted friends, her leader, Shiro was smiling a wicked smile as he held Lance up with his robotic arm. Lance’s hands were around his, trying to them to release as he struggled for breath. His body twitching as his face paled from lack of oxygen._

** _A few moment before…._ **

_Allura was running throughout the fleet, taking out any camera she could see and fighting anyone that was willing to stand in her way. The plan had been going amazingly. Though, her anxiousness still weighed her heart down. Anything could go wrong now._

_She went down the hallway when she saw Shiro. She stopped midway, confused as to why he was in this section of the fleet. They were supposed to be spread out and away from each other._

_“Allura, there you are!”_

_Allura raised a brow as she put her bayard away. He sounded relieved, “Is everything alright?”_

_“My microphone got damaged, I needed to tell you something.” He said as he walked towards her._

_Something felt off to her about Shiro. But there was nothing /too/ strange. Till she saw the helmet from a closer view, seeing that it wasn’t damaged at all. She went and grabbed her bayard quickly but before she could Shiro grabbed her hand tightly, making it fall from her hands, and kicked her leg in, breaking it before kicking the bayard to the side and breaking it completely. She screamed in agony as he did and he slammed her up against the wall. Activating his hand. He began to walk towards her. Her eyes widened in horror as he did, panic began to infiltrate her body as she backed up the best she could do. However, her back hit the back of a nearby wall. She looked back for a second and then back up at Shiro. Was this really how she was going to end. By the hand of her friend…?_

_“No, no, Shiro. Shiro. Please.” She said desperately._

_Shiro raised his hand when the sound of Lance’s voice came through._

_“What the hell-!? Shiro…?” He took a few steps forward towards them. Confusion written all over his expression._

_Allura looked over at him, relief and worry washed over her. She saw from the corner of her eye Shiro’s leaning movements and the purple glow of his hand intensifie. “Lance! Wat-”_

_Before she could say anything more Shiro went in for a strike. Lance instinctively moved out of the way and stumbled back as he did. Shiro grabbed Lance and lifted him up, beginning to apply pressure and slowly choking him out. Allura didn’t know what to do. She looked around for her bayard, but it was across the room broken in pieces. When she tried to get up the pain shot throughout her entire body._

_Then Pidge appeared. Only taking a few seconds to adjust to the sight she took her aim and shot Shiro in the jaw, causing him to let go of Lance. Both collapsing onto the ground._

_Pidge quickly ran over to Allura, sliding down onto her knees. “Allura. Are you alright?”_

_Allura looked over at her and nodded. “Y-yeah. Shiro. He broke my leg. I can’t walk.” She said shakily._

_“O-oh shoot. Alright. We’ll figure out something.”_

_They heard the groan from behind and Pidge got her bayard ready, about to stand up. However Lance was still panting from having his breath taken away looked over._

_“Get out of here. I’ll take care of Shiro.” He said as he started to get up. Pidge and Allura peered at each other nervously before nodding. Pidge wrapped her arm around Allura’s waist as she put her bayard away. Allura stood up, almost falling down instantly, however Katie was able to keep her up._

_They began to slowly walk out, Allura limping as she did. They could hear the clashing noises behind them and the sound of pain. But they couldn’t really do anything. **She** couldn’t do anything._

_Once they had made some progress away from the scene they heard the outcry made by Lance. They both looked back to see that Lance had been hit with Shiro’s hand, piercing his skin as it dug into his stomach. He took his hand out, his blood dripping off his hand as Lance fell down onto his knees, coughing up blood. He then turned to them both._

_Pidge naturally got her bayard out, ready to fight if she needed to._

_But just as Shiro had taken his hand out. A bullet went straight through his head, his body going down onto the ground as it laid lifeless. When he did, Lance was in the background with a smoking gun that had just been freshly shot at. His gun still aimed and his breathing heavy._

_They all stayed there in silence, not knowing what to do. Not even sure if that was real or not._

_Lance toppled down, his body given out from everything._

_Allura and Pidge quickly began to stumble over. Ignoring it all to be concerned about Lance._

_They couldn’t lose another friend._

Keith laid in his bed as he listened to ‘Ocean Eyes’ originally by Billie Eilish but covered by American Avenue. He loved the more rock and roll themed music, but he liked the song so it only made sense. He sighed as he looked over at the bags that were empty still.

There was a knock on his door which only made Keith groan from irritation. He went and began to take his headphones out of his ears as he wrapped them around his phone. He went and sat up as Shiro entered the room.

“Hey Keith, how’s the packing going?” He looked over towards the empty bags and sighed. “Do you want me to help?”

Keith just shrugged slightly as he began to pack up. Shiro walked over to the bed and sat down as he watched Keith pack his things. “Ya know if you don’t want to, you don’t have to, Keith. I know it’ll be hard for you. But I think it’ll be good, you can let go a bit. Move on more.”

“I’m fine and I’m going.” Keith says as he stuffed his clothes into a huge bag. It wasn’t like they were going to stay there for more than few days, not even a week.

“Yeah, alright. I just don’t want to push you or anything.”

“We were in war Shiro.”

“I know, but this is different….you know that Keith. At least we’ll get to see how everyone else is doing. Plus we can go and visit Lance’s mom. That’ll be fun. She was really nice to us last time we met.”

Keith nods as he says that, “Hmhm…” He zips up the bag and lets out a heavy sigh. He went and stood up going over to his top drawer to get a book. When he did he saw the picture of Lance he always kept close to him. It was of him while he was at the garrison, holding up a peace sign with a beautiful bright smile. He went and held the picture gently, not wanting to wreck it in any way. He then went and placed it inside his book before putting it into the front pocket.

“Miss him?”

Keith nods slightly as he lifted up the bag and placed it over his shoulder, the strap going across his and the actual bag landing around his hip.

“Yeah, but….at least you’ll see him soon….”

“Not in the way that I want….” He said as he began to walk out.

Shiro and Keith went downstairs once they got all their bags and began to pack up the car. They had an old 1970 chevrolet chevelle ss that was a bright red with two black racing stripes which they got from their mother. A kind of _‘Glad you’re not dead! Here’s a car for ya’_ gift. Once Shiro closed the trunk of the car, he walked to the driver's seat and looked over at Keith.

“Ready to go?” He asked softly as he started the engine.

Keith was leaning to the side with his arms wrapped around his stomach. The night sky was already out from how late they were traveling, he simply nodded,

“Yeah….ready as I’ll ever be…”

Shiro nodded back and began to drive off. While Keith got to close his eyes and imagine that horrible day where everything went wrong. Maybe if he dreamt long enough and hoped that things would go differently, they would become a reality. If only that was how the universe worked.

_Keith was finishing up, with what he counted, room twelve of thirty five. They still had a lot of work to do to say the least. He helped the frailer alien up into the ship when he heard his com get turned on. “Keith?” Keith went and quickly turned his mic on as he began to head for the thirteenth room, “Pidge? What happened? Is everything okay?”_

_“ No, not really if I’m being honest. Allura and Lance are alive but injured badly. And….Shiro...I’m sorry Keith…” _

_Keith stopped as his heart sank. “No….you can’t tell me-”_

_“I’m sorry….he’s dead Keith….I-....lance had to….He attacked Allura and he ripped into Lance’s stomach. Lance had to shoot him before he tried to finish off the job….”_

_“......” keith was astounded by what he heard. He put his hand over his mouth as he tried to keep it together. “no...no...Shiro would never. You’re lying.”_

_“ Keith….I-I’m so sorry.”_

_“.....” Keith shook his head as he felt the tears begin to form in the corner of his eyes. He needed to focus on the mission, so that was what he was going to do. He slowly began to start walking again. “I’m fine. I’m just glad you’re all alive….Have you set up the bomb yet?”_

_“No, we’re about to. We’ve been a bit busy….obviously.”_

_“Right.” Keith went and opened the door. “What the….?”_

_“ What? Is everything alright?” _

_“....I just found….Shiro.” he went and ran over to him._

_He was limp and pale, his hair was a bit longer down to his shoulders, his ankles and wrists were chained down by metal as he was stood up on a table._

_Keith went over to him and began to check for his pulse. He sighed in relief when he felt that he was still alive. “He’s alive. He’s alive.”_

_“ What- but...how?” _

_“I don’t know. We’ll...we’ll question it later.” he went and began to unclamp him from the table and wrapped his arm around his shoulder. “I’m moving him into the ships. So, what’s the plan from here?”_

_Lance went onto the mics, a soft pant could be heard from Keith’s end. “W-we can go ahead and meet up in the main deck. You can help out Allura while Pidge and I set up the bomb in the room.” _

_“Pidge can handle her -”_

_“ Mullet, can you please just follow my plans for **once** in your life? Pidge is small and it’s only a pit stop for you.”_

_Keith began to walk out of the room with Shiro, something sounded off with Lance to him. But he decided to ignore it, instead replacing it with a smirk and an eye roll. “Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.”_

_Without another word Keith brought Shiro to the ship, handing him off to Kolivan before leaving to run to the central command unit. Only a few moment later he found the three of them working. Allura and Lance looked really banged up. Allura was sitting on the ground, trying to coax the pain away in what seem to be a broken leg, rocking back and forth as she did so. Lance was leaning on the deck, his hand over his stomach but the blood was clearly slipping through his hands and dripping down onto the ground. All this while Pidge was setting up the bomb._

_“Jesus - you guys took a beating. Will you be fine.” He said as he walked into the room._

_Lance glanced over at Keith, a relieved expression forming on his face. “Yeah, of course.” He said as he coughed a bit more._

_Allura looked up and nodded. “Y-yes. Just a bit of pain is all. We’ve been through worse.”_

_“I’m almost done. Matt is setting up the lower deck bombs as we speak and Hunk is helping out The Blade. I just need to set the timer and we can go. How does ten minutes sound?”_

_“It sounds risky.” Keith said as he bit his bottom lip. Could they even get far enough from the collision with that much time? Not all of them had space cats to ride in. Well, not anymore._

_“I think we’ll be able to manage.” Lance said. “Can you manually start the timer?”_

_"No. No. The only button I could make was the automatic detonation one. And that’s on the bomb. You didn’t exactly give me any time to work on this.” She said as she looked at Lance._

_Lance nodded and sighed. “Right….Right….”_

_“The bombs are set up. This baby is ready to burn.” A familiar somewhat light hearted voice was heard from their helmets. Pidge went ahead and said to Matt, “Alright, we’ll be ready to go in a second. Start heading off.” And with that the interaction ended. “I’ll go ahead and grab Allura since I’m not that short.”_

_Lance nodded and smiled softly at her. “Okay, I’m just going to check a few things. You go on ahead, I’ll catch up.”_

_Pidge nodded and went over to Allura, helping her up. “Of course, make sure not to do anything stupid.”_

_“No worries, I won’t.”_

_Pidge and Allura walked out as Keith stayed. He walked over to Lance as Lance had turned around from him to work on the bomb. “Hm? Why are you staying?”_

_Keith leaned on the wall, crossing his arms. “Just thought that you might need help. Always better to have two hands.”_

_“That’s what she said.” Lance smirked as he took a glimpse of Keith before looking back at the bomb._

_Keith groaned at the idiotic joke, “Why are you like this?”_

_“Oh, come on, you love it and you know it.” he said happily with a cheerful smile. “.....Hey man, can I tell you something?” He said more quietly and with a gentler tone._

_Keith could hear the heaviness in his voice as he spoke, he stood up straight and raised a brow. “Yeah, what is it?”_

_"Thank you-”_

_“What?”_

_“Shut up, let me talk. Thank you. Thank you for everything honestly. You’ve always been a big component in my life ever since the garrison. I’ve...admired you but I was jealous of your skills, plus you never really...talked to me when i tried to talk to you. So I started a rivalry to get your attention. Then this whole thing happened and you’ve...kind of been my driving force whenever I wanted to quit. Along with other factors. But I’m thanking **you** so I won’t mention them.-” _

_Keith couldn’t take this anymore. He knew exactly where this was leading to. It was a goodbye. Keith stepped away from the wall and went closer to him. “I know where this heading to Lance. What the heck are you going to do?”_

_Lance looked over at Keith with those sweet ocean blue eyes and turned to him. Smiling a bittersweet smile kindly towards him. He goes and places his hand onto his cheek as he leans in quickly so he wouldn’t jerk away. His other hand finds his way onto his armor and keeps him there as he kisses him with his soft lips._

_Keith’s eyes widened from the shock of it all, his body warming up as he felt Lance’s compassionate kiss. He didn’t know what to do. But before he could, he was falling._

_Lance pushed him out of the room and locked the door so he wouldn’t be able to get in._

_Keith immediately got up and began to bang on the door. “Lance!! Lance!! What are you doing?! Don’t be stupid!! Open the goddamn door right this second!!”_

_He only smiles as tears began to build up. “Keith, Keith, it’s okay. I’d...just be deadweight. I was going to die no matter what, my mama, she was a nurse. I know a lost cause when I see it, I’ve been covering it somewhat well, but it hurts and I’m pretty sure he hit my lung since I can barely breathe properly it feels like….Someone needs to be here to manually detonate it. I can stop the timer and once you’re all out of reach I can finish it. If we just leave it, we won’t know if someone turns it off or if we’ll all make it. It’s perfect….” He said as his voice cracked and tears began to go down. His entire body shook as he tried to put a brave front on for Keith, but it was slowly slipping and crumbling away._

_“No, no, Lance - I can’t. We can fight another day! Please. For the love of God. For me! Don’t do this.” Keith said as continued to bang on the door, his voice sounding so desperate as his lip quivered in fear. “I can’t lose you. I can’t! Please!”_

_“Can you do me a favor….?” Lance whispered as he placed his forehead onto the cold glass along with his hand as his head was tilted down._

_“Yes! I’ll do whatever you want! Just...don’t sacrifice yourself like this.”_

_“.....Can you tell the team how much they meant to me….could you tell my family that i missed them every single day, that I tried to get back to them, that I’m sorry I didn’t, but I love them all so much and that I didn’t die in vain…..can you promise to keep in touch with everyone….? Can you promise to never forget me….?”_

_“Lance...Lance...please…I promise! God! I fucking promise! Just don’t - just don’t do this.” He said as tears began to stream down his face. “_

_You know Keith….I’ve always loved you….even if I didn’t recognize it….i’m sorry I didn’t have the courage to tell you till I was on my deathbed….I would have loved to have had so many...beautiful moments with you.”_

_Loud steps were heard in the background, Lance turned around and saw Lotor with glowing eyes that seemingly matched his parents eyes. Corrupted with quitencesses that made him insane. Lance went and stepped forward, aiming his bayard at him and shooting without another word._

_“I swear to god- Lance!! Open this door right this second or I swear I will beat your ass!!!” he cried out, hoping that Lance will listen to him for once in his stubborn life._

_But he doesn’t. He ignores him and focuses on Lotor the best he could with his blurry vision. Lotor easily takes out his bayard and kicks him to the ground, making him hit the wall. He ruthlessly beats him to a pulp. Keith continued to bang on the door, kicking it down, stabbing it, anything that he could. But nothing worked. He could only watch and yell till his voice gave out._

_Hunk and Matt appear from the hallway and run over to Keith. Their microphones had been on the entire time. Hunk went and grabbed his shoulders, “Keith. We need to get out of here.”_

_Keith pushed his arms away. “No! Not till we get Lance!”_

_Hunk just looked down and pulled him away. Tears filling up his eyes, he hated that he had to do this with a fiery passion. But, there was nothing he could do for Lance. Keith fought with everything that he could. Yelling, screaming, crying, everything. But he couldn’t. Get out of the yellow paladin’s hold. Along with Matt who helped him out._

_Lance couldn’t hear the noise anymore. He let the tears stream down more and began to fight back just a little bit more. He could hear their voices through the communicators. Maybe, just maybe there could be a saving grace out there. Once he heard they were back at the ship. He took his last shot at Lotor and he stumbled over to the bomb. Whispering softly,_

_“I’ll see you soon Samurai….”_

_Then he let the silence into his heart and the stars take him home to summer beaches with dancing campfires._

They soon arrive at the graveyard. Hunk, Matt, Pidge, Allura, Shiro, and Keith. Their silent at first, the air thick with a sort of awkwardness and weight in it as they say all of their hello’s. However Keith doesn’t talk. They talk for a bit but then Hunk is the one to go over to Keith and place his hand onto his shoulder, whispering softly to him as the others made conversation.

“Are you ready man?”

Keith huffs out a deep slow sigh as Hunk says that, he looks over and nods quietly. “You?’

“....I don’t think I’ll ever be ready…”

“...understandable…”

They begin to walk down the pavement, the clacking of shoes too loud in the silence till they reach the grass. They finally meet the marble stone hedge with the letters that looked so….permanent and official.

_“Lanu E. McClain Died July 31st ?? Aged 21 - In loving memory of Lance McClain, a loving friend and brother. A hero to the universe. You shall never be forgotten.”_

They all stand there quietly, looking at the stone as if it’d bring him back. They placed little trinkets for him by and on the stone. None of them left for hours. However, as time went on the stars began to show. So one by one they left. The last two were Shiro and Keith.

Shiro went and placed his hand onto his shoulder. “If you need me, I’ll be in the car….”

Keith didn’t move as he said that, just nodded. He felt his hand lift off of his shoulder and he just stayed there for a few moments before placing his own hand on top of the stone. 

.

.

.

_“I’ve missed you Sharpshooter….”_

**Author's Note:**

> So, that was interesting. This is my second fic and I'm already doing angsty things. 
> 
> Anyways, I just want to thank anyone who read this fic fully. It means a lot to me. If you have any suggestions on what I should do to become a better writer, go ahead. Sorry if I made you cry as well. But yeah, thank you again and I hope you have an amazing day. 
> 
> The song that inspired it all/ https://youtu.be/xXNSwkmoWqs 
> 
> The song Keith was listening to/ https://youtu.be/hyib-OUbRtI


End file.
